A Lady in Grey

About this artwork

This portrait of the artist's daughter Mrs Wiseman is an entrancing study of reflected light. The inspiration for the pose and the lighting effect may have been Reynolds' portrait of the actress Nelly O'Brien (Wallace Collection, London) which was shown in 1857 at the Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition. The Scottish National Gallery also has MacNee’s highly-worked preparatory oil sketch for this painting (NG 2254).

A Century of Scottish Art 1810-1920

Sir Daniel Macnee

Sir Daniel Macnee

Sir Daniel Macnee was a leading Scottish portrait painter. Born at Fintry, he was brought up in Glasgow where he became a pupil of portraitist and landscapist John Knox. There, he met fellow artists Horatio McCulloch and William Leitch. Macnee and McCulloch briefly worked as snuff-boxes painters at Cumnock, before…